Farah pulls no punches in tough race to gain ground on Africa’s elite

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Mo Farah had a brawl on his first day at school and sleeps in a bedroom bedecked with Muhammad Ali posters, so it seems clear that he has the stomach for a fight. “This kid came over and whacked me,” he recalled. “So I hit him back.” He has been rolling with the punches ever since.

The Somali-born British distance runner will invoke the spirit of the Rumble in the Jungle, his favourite Ali bout, to throw down a marker at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, next month. The potential has been simmering for some time. Last year, he